Puffed fabrics



P 1, 1964 N. G. BROWN, JR 3,146,800

" PUFFED FABRICS Filed May 31, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet l r IN VENTORATTORNEYS Sept. 1, 1964 3, BROWN, JR 7 3,146,800

PUF FED FABRICS Filed May 51, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Non/4 GBRQw/v, JR.

ATTORNEYS United rates 3,1463% PUFFED FABRICS Noah G. Brown, In,Buriington, N.C., assignor to Burlington Industries, Inc, Greensboro,N.C., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 31, 1969, Ser. No. 32,663 7tilt-tints. (Cl. 139384) The present invention relates to themanufacturing of woven textile fabrics and more particularly to wovenfabrics having raised puffs woven into the fabric during the weavingoperation.

Puffs in fabrics are generally produced by manufacturing methodsrequiring manipulation of the fabric after weaving such as gathering thematerial into puffs or raised portions and sewing in seams to retain thepuffs or slitting the material into strips and combining it with othermaterials followed by sewing the materials to form fabrics with puffs.Another complex manufacturing method commonly used includes the use of awoven fabric and a foam or padding material and a so-called di-electricprocessing operation. All of these techniques require handling of afabric after it is woven and represent unnecessary excessive cost.

The present invention overcomes these difficulties and provides a wovenfabric having a puffed effect woven into the fabric by virtue of thesequence of interlacing of yarn so that the fabric as received from theloom, has a puffed effect permanently woven into it. Basically, this ismade possible with a double, triple or multi-layer weave in the raisedportion of the puffed fabric and only a single layer in the depressionsor seams between the puffs. That is, the yarn running transverse to thepuffs is interwoven at the seams to form a single woven layer. In theraised portions, there are two or more substantially superimposed layersof weave and the yarn running transverse to the puffs is divided amongthe several superimposed layers, each end of this yarn being in only oneof these superimposed layers. The outer or face weave generally hasrelatively fine yarn while the underlying stuffer layer or layers haverelatively coarse yarn, running along the puff to provide body to thefabric and raise the outer weave above the puffs. These underlying wovenlayers are actually woven sections which are an integral part of thefabric and are not merely yarn or materials loosely stuffed into thepuffs. As a result, the puffs are a permanent characteristic of thefabric which is not substantially affected by handling and are notsubject to shifting as is the case when the puffs are filled withloosely held stufiing material.

The invention is applicable to both horizontal and vertical puffsrunning respective transverse to and along the running length of thefabric and both horizontal and vertical puffs may be formed in the samefabric. It can be modified to produce various types of weave in theouter face layer of woven material within the capacity and limitation ofconventional high speed looms and such conventional looms with multiplebeams or with one beam can be used.

The objects and purposes of the invention will be more readilyunderstood from the following detailed description of preferredembodiments and by reference to the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a horizontally puffedfabric showing the fabric loosely woven in order to illustrate moreclearly the nature of the weave;

FIGURE la is a side view of a completed fabric woven in the mannerillustrated in FIGURE 1 and showing the yarns in their final positions;

FIGURE 1b is a bottom view of the completed fabric of FIGURE 1a;

Patented Sept. 1, 1964 FIGURE 2 is a composite side view of the fabricof FIGURE 1 along the ends of the weft yarn;

FIGURE 3 is a side view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the first end of afour binder end Weave;

FIGURE 4 is a side view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the second end of afour binder end weave;

FIGURE 5 is a side view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the third end of afour binder end weave;

FIGURE 6 is a side view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the fourth end of afour binder end weave;

FIGURE 7 is a partial sectional view of a vertically puffed fabric; and

FIGURE 8 is an end view in the warp direction of the fabric of FIGURE 7showing, for the sake of simplicity only one of the weft yarns.

The horizontally-puffed fabric of FIGURES 16 is produced on aconventional high speed loom using two groups of warp yarns. The firstwarp yarn, which will be designated No. 1 may have two or more threadsor ends of yarn for each end of the second yarn, designated No. 2, andserves to form the face weave covering the puffs. The No. 2 yarn iswoven into the fabric lying under the face yarn in the puffed areas andboth No. 1 and N0. 2 yarns are interlaced with weft yarns to form theseams which separate the puffs. Thus, there are at least two layers ofweave in the puffed area and there is only one layer in the seams.

There may be two or more groups of weft yarns. An A yarn, whichintermeshes with No. 1 warp yarn to form the facing weave covering thepuffed area and a B yarn which intermeshes with the No. 2 yarn to formthe underlying puff filling material are required, and a C yarn may beused for weaving with the No. 1 and No. 2 warp yarns in the seam areas,although the A weft yarn may be used for the seams instead.

As can be seen in FIGURE 1, when a puff area is being woven, the No. lwarp ends interlace only with the A weft yarn, and, while A picks areinterlacing with them, the No. 1 warp ends are raised above No. 2 warpends so that a facing fabric is woven which floats over the underlyingfilling material. At the same time, the B weft threads are interlacingwith the No. 2 warp ends which are below the No. 1 warp ends so that twoseparate layers of woven material are formed on a single loom. T 0illustrate this phase of the weaving, a four binder end weave is shownin composite in FIGURE 2 and each end is shown in detail in one ofFIGURES 3-6. In this illustration there are 8 weft threads B B B B B B Band B filling the interior of the puff arranged generally in pairs andin generally upper and lower layers. The No. 2 ends are divided intofour groups and the ends of each group are intermeshed with the B Weftthreads in ways differing from the others. That is, each of the fourwarp ends are interlaced with some of these weft threads in a weavedifferent from the other ends so as to form an integral unit of thematerial to fill the puffs. As shown in FIGURE 3, the first of the yarnends, designated 2a passes over weft threads B and B and under B and B.This warp end is thus confined to the lower layer of the B yarn andpasses between the threads of each of the lower pairs. The second warpend, 2b, shown in FIGURE 4, passes under weft threads B and B and over Band B then over one upper pair of weft threads, B and B Thus, this warpend serves to tie together the upper and lower layers of weft threads.

In a similar manner, as shown in FIGURE 5, warp end 2c passes under B upover the upper pair of weft threads B and B under lower weft thread Band over B and also serves to hold together the upper and lower pairs ofweft threads. It will be noted "that end 20 passes under the upper pairof weft threads B and B while end 129 2b runs over the same pair. Thisserves to hold these threads together and, at the same time, since end2c passes over lower weft thread B it tends to force B and B upwardly togive added loft to the puff filling.

In FIGURE 6, the end 2d passes over all of the lower pairs includingweft threads B B B and B and under and over the upper threads B and Band B and B respectively, passing between the threads of each of theupper pairs. This weft end also serves to give a lofting effect to theupper pairs.

While the filling material is woven from the B weft threads and No. 2warp ends, the facing layer is woven simultaneously and the No. 2 and Bthreads are always held below the facing materials. This outer facing iswoven from No. 1 warp ends and A weft yarn and any suitable outer weavecan be used. If desired, several colors of yarn may be used and apattern woven into the fabric following any conventional weavingtechnique. The sole consideration is that the threads woven into thefacing always are held above those woven into the underlying stufiingand there is no interlacing of these threads with the result that thereare at least two separate layers of fabric.

In the seams lying between the pufis, there is only a single layer ofwoven material in which the No. 1 and No. 2 warp ends are woven. Thespecific embodiment shown in FIGURES 1-6, has three sets of weft threadsin the seam, designated C C and O and C The sets may contain one or morethreads, and, as shown, C and C are single thread units and C C comprisea double thread unit. The No. 1 ends are all woven over and under the Cthreads in one sequence and similarly the No. 2 threads are all woven inanother sequence. That is, all of the No. 1 threads pass under C over Cand C and under C while all the No. 2 threads are woven in the oppositemanner or over C under C and O and over C As a result, there is only asingle woven layer in the seam area which ties together all the warpyarns of the several layers in the pleated areas.

The relative number of No. 1 and No. 2 ends may vary considerably, but,in general, there will be at least two No. 1 ends for each No. 2 end.The ratio may be increased, but preferably does not exceed 10:1. The No.1 and No. 2 yarns are generally quite fine such as 200 denier; however,an adjusted ratio of No. 1 to No. 2 ends would permit use of yarnsranging from 70 denier to 900 denier. The A weft yarn is commonly 600denier cotton count yarn or equivalent, but may vary from 300 denier to1500 denier. A suitable size for the B yarn is 2 ply 2s or approximately1500 denier, although smaller yarn sizes such as 900 denier may be used.The bulk of this yarn in great measure determines the fullness of thepuff.

It will be understood that FIGURES 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 schematicallyillustrate the intermeshing relationship between warp and wefts achievedby the Weaving process and are not intended to illustrate actualpositions of the yarns. In the final fabric the wefts B will have, forexample, the positions shown in FIGURE la. Thus, the different weavingof the No. 2 yarns with the various B wefts produces different verticalforces on the B wefts with the result that the latter will havedifferent vertical positions in the final fabric. For example, B hasonly yarn 2c pulling it down, whereas yarns 2a 2b and 2d are holding itup. Also, the diameter of the B wefts may be much greater than thatillustrated so that the B wefts tend to overlie one another.

Although a fabric has been described which has only two layers in thepuffed areas, more layers may be formed to give added lofting andfirmness to the puffs. It will be appreciated also that the relationshipof the wefts B to the ends No. 2 may be such that in the completedfabric the layer underlying the facing puif may be a single ply layer,i.e. the wefts B may be substantially in a single horizontal planerather than in more than one horizontal plane.

A vertical puff, running along the length of the fabric is shown inFIGURES 7 and 8, and the same basic principle is applied. That is, thepuffed areas are composites or" two or more substantially superimposedlayers of woven fabric and the seams between the puffs have only asingle layer. In this illustration, the warp yarns are divided intothree groups, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 yarns. The No. 4 yarn is woven intothe face material covering the puffed areas, the No. 5 yarn is in theseam areas between puffs and the No. 6 yarn is a much heavier materialwovn into the material which stuffs the putfs.

Two groups of weft yarn are used, the D weft yarn which is woven withNo. 4- into a face fabric covering the pleats and an E weft yarn whichis used to intermesh with the No. 6 yarn to form the stufiing for thepuffs. Both D and E weft yarns are woven with No. 5 yarn in the seams,and the result is two layers in the puffed areas and a single layer inthe seams. Thus, the D and E weft yarns are woven into separate layersin the puffed area to give a raised fabric and are woven together into asingle layer in the seams so that there is an anchoring of the stutlingof the puffs to the main body of fabric.

The No. 4 and No. 5 yarns may be of like or different sizes and anyconventional textile warp yarn may be used. Sizes such as to 900 denierare suitable. The No. 5 yarn should have high tensile strength to avoidtearing the fabric at the seams which are thinner than the part of thefabric in the puffed areas, and yarns such as nylon or any othercommercial yarn of good strength are useful. The No. 6 yarn is a heavyyarn having a size of 900 to 5500 denier and its size is determined bythe fullness of the puffs. The greater its diameter, the fuller thepuffs.

The D weft yarn, which is woven into the face of the fabric, may be ofany size suitable for such purpose, such as 300 to 1500 denier, and morethan one color yarn may be used to achieve pattern effects on the pufffaces. The E filling may be of a suitable size such as 900 to 2800denier and heavier yarns result in fuller puffs although the D and Eyarns may be the same size. Since the E weft threads are woven intopuffs and seams, they should not be too heavy if a thin seam is desired.However, it must be at least as contractable as the D yarn so that thepuffs will not flatten out when the fabric is stretched. Thisrelationship in contraction properties between D and E yarns must besuch that the contraction of D and E yarns must be equal or E yarn musthave a greater degree of contraction for both wet and dry yarn. A shrinkyarn may be used for the E yarn such as the direct spun rayon typeyarns, and any contraction of these yarns will draw the seams towardeach other and compress the puff stuffing laterally to give increasedlofting to the puffs.

The number of weft ends used and the ratio of No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6ends may vary. By way of illustration, there may be a ratio of No. 4 toNo. 5 to No. 6 ends of 144:16z10, and in the puffed areas there are 12No. 4 ends for each No. 6 end. In this arrangement, the sequence of warpyarns is shown in Table I.

TABLE I In weaving of the puffed areas, the No. 6 yarn ends are wovenwith E picks and always are maintained below the No. 4 ends which arewoven with D picks. The seams are formed by weaving both D and E pickswith a single layer of No. 5 ends.

The enlarged section shown in FIGURE 8 illustrates the use of the No. 4,S and 6 warp ends for their respective purposes. The E weft threads maybe woven through and around the bundle of No. 6 ends to lace them into acompact bundle, and any weave which can be produced on a conventionalhigh speed loom is suitable. An enlarged view illustrating the mannerofinterlacing stutfer warp ends 6 with picks E is shown in FIGURE 7 inwhich the insert overlay represents a section of the face.

The present invention produces a puffed woven fabric having two or morelayers of fabric in puffed areas separated by other seam areas havingsingle layers of fabric. Each of the yarns running across the puffs andseams are woven into a single layer in the seam area. While horizontaland vertical puffs have been described, the invention is applicable tofabrics having both horizontal and vertical puffs which may be formed bysuitable adjustment of yarns and weaves. By the use of several colors ofyarn, patterns may be woven into the facing weave and almost any type offacing weave can be used to cover the puffed areas. These weaves areadvantageous in that a permanent puff is Woven into the fabric andbecomes a permanent characteristic not changed by washing and handling.There is no necessity to process a fabric after it leaves the loom toform puffs in it, and a considerable savings in cost results.

Although yarn sizes have been described in terms of denier, it isobvious that corresponding sizes of spun yarns may be used regardless ofthe method of yarn manufacturing, and while only specific embodiments ofthe invention have been described, various changes and modifications maybe made in the weaving method, the yarns used, the woven fabric and inother details without departing from the scope of the invention asdefined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A woven fabric having a plurality of raised puffs each separated fromadjacent pufis by a seam area, said fabric comprising: an upper layer offabric woven of a first group of threads with a second group of threads;a lower layer of fabric of greater bulk than said upper layer below andcoextensive with said upper layer and woven of a third group of threadswith a fourth group of threads, the threads of at least one of thegroups forming the lower layer being of greater diameter than thethreads of said first and second groups to achieve said greater bulkwhereby said upper layer is raised above said lower layer in the form ofpuffs, said upper layer having a greater number of threads than saidlower layer, said seam area between adjacent puifs being a single layer5 woven of one group of threads from each of said layers with aplurality of other threads, said seam area having a lesser bulk thansaid lower layer.

2. A fabric as in claim 1 in which some of said threads of greaterdiameter in said lower layer overlie other threads in the same group.

3. A fabric as in claim 1 in which one of the groups of threads formingsaid lower layer is divided into subgroups which are each interlacedwith the threads of the other group in the lower layer in a differentweave.

4. A fabric as in claim 1 in which the threads from the upper layerwhich extend into the seam area are interlaced as a group with saidother threads in the seam area in one sequence and in which the threadsfrom the lower layer which extend into the seam area are interlaced as agroup with said other threads in the seam area in a sequence differentfrom the sequence of the threads from said upper layer.

5. A fabric as in claim 1 wherein said puffs are elongated and whereinsaid threads of greater diameter in said lower layer extendlongitudinally of the puffs and overlie each other, said threads ofgreater diameter being interlaced in different weaves with the threadsof the other group in said lower layer.

6. A fabric as in claim 1 wherein said puffs are elongated in thedirection of the weft threads and wherein said first and third groupsare warp threads and said second and fourth groups are weft threads, thesize of the threads in said first group corresponding to -200 denier,the size of the threads in said second group corresponding to 300-1500denier, the size of the threads in said third group corresponding to70-900 denier, the size of the threads in said fourth groupcorresponding to at least 900 denier, the ratio of the number of threadsin said first group to the number of threads in said third group beingfrom 2:1 to 10:1, and the number of said other threads being at leastfour.

7. A fabric as in claim 1 wherein said puffs are elongated in thedirection of the warp threads and wherein said first and third groupsare weft threads and said second and fourth groups are warp threads, thesize of the threads in said first group corresponding to 300-1500denier, the size of the threads in said second group corresponding to70-900 denier, the size of the threads in said third group correspondingto 900-2800 denier, and the size of the threads in said fourth groupcorresponding to 900-5500 denier.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS793,524 Hewett June 27, 1905 1,359,973 Entz Nov. 23, 1920 1,998,041Barbet Apr. 16, 1935 2,424,928 Glendinning July 29, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS560,433 Belgium Sept. 14, 1957 403,171 Great Britain Dec. 21, 1933

1. A WOVEN FABRIC HAVING A PLURALITY OF RAISED PUFFS EACH SEPARATED FROMADJACENT PUFFS BY A SEAM AREA, SAID FABRIC COMPRISING: AN UPPER LAYER OFFABRIC WOVEN OF A FIRST GROUP OF THREADS WITH A SECOND GROUP OF THREADS;A LOWER LAYER OF FABRIC OF GREATER BULK THAN SAID UPPER LAYER BELOW ANDCOEXTENSIVE WITH SAID UPPER LAYER AND WOVEN OF A THIRD GROUP OF THREADSWITH A FOURTH GROUP OF THREADS, THE THREADS OF AT LEAST ONE OF THEGROUPS FORMING THE LOWER LAYER BEING OF GREATER DIAMETER THAN THETHREADS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND GROUPS TO ACHIEVE SAID GREATER BULKWHEREBY SAID UPPER LAYER IS RAISED ABOVE SAID LOWER LAYER IN THE FORM OFPUFFS, SAID UPPER LAYER HAVING A GREATER NUMBER OF THREADS THAN SAIDLOWER LAYER, SAID SEAM AREA BETWEEN ADJACENT PUFFS BEING A SINGLE LAYERWOVEN OF ONE GROUP OF THREADS FROM EACH OF SAID LAYERS WITH A PLURALITYOF OTHER THREADS, SAID SEAM AREA HAVING A LESSER BULK THAN SAID LOWERLAYER.